What Makes News Headlines

[icyfroth]

Listening to the news on the way to work this morning, 2 announcements made me wonder how the warrant news headlines.

India Bans Burning Cow Dung Near Taj Mahal

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-13/india-bans-burning-cow-dung-near-yellowing-taj-mahal/6015504

Apparently it turns the white marble yellow. Ok it's a valid concern but does it really warrant a news headline?

Dead Dolphin Found on Newcastle Beach 

Thought to have been killed by shark.

(no link available)

Ok I know they have a cpl of Great Whites stalking the area, but...a news headline? Really?

[village_person]

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@icyfroth wrote:

Sandilands pooed himself in hospital

Entire Article Here

We all know what a sh*thead Sandilands is, so is that sort of headline really warranted?

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I'd say by the look of his puffy face and bloated appearance there is still a bit of compacted faecal matter still searching for the exit.

[aftanas]

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@icyfroth wrote:

Listening to the news on the way to work this morning, 2 announcements made me wonder how the warrant news headlines.

India Bans Burning Cow Dung Near Taj Mahal

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-13/india-bans-burning-cow-dung-near-yellowing-taj-mahal/6015504

Apparently it turns the white marble yellow. Ok it's a valid concern but does it really warrant a news headline?

Dead Dolphin Found on Newcastle Beach 

Thought to have been killed by shark.

(no link available)

Ok I know they have a cpl of Great Whites stalking the area, but...a news headline? Really?

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Before I found my calling I considered becoming a journalist and studied journalism at the University of Qld. In the 80s it seemed that every news bulletin ended with a story of about a dog riding a skate board or a stretch limousine that had been stretched beyond all reason, and one of our tutorial topic was: "What is news?".  After debating the question for 40 minutes our tutor told us the answer.  News is whatever a journalist says is news.  

[poddster]

Not quite.

News is what the gullible readers will swallow and come back for more.

[icyfroth]

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@aftanas wrote:

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@icyfroth wrote:

Listening to the news on the way to work this morning, 2 announcements made me wonder how the warrant news headlines.

India Bans Burning Cow Dung Near Taj Mahal

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-13/india-bans-burning-cow-dung-near-yellowing-taj-mahal/6015504

Apparently it turns the white marble yellow. Ok it's a valid concern but does it really warrant a news headline?

Dead Dolphin Found on Newcastle Beach 

Thought to have been killed by shark.

(no link available)

Ok I know they have a cpl of Great Whites stalking the area, but...a news headline? Really?

---

Before I found my calling I considered becoming a journalist and studied journalism at the University of Qld. In the 80s it seemed that every news bulletin ended with a story of about a dog riding a skate board or a stretch limousine that had been stretched beyond all reason, and one of our tutorial topic was: "What is news?".  After debating the question for 40 minutes our tutor told us the answer.  News is whatever a journalist says is news.  

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Hahaaah yeah I get that lol. Too true in light of what's reported as news these days. And in previous days by reporters of the day lol

[aftanas · Accepted solution]

The point about news is that it is reported in newspapers and on television.  It is a business and the objective of business is to make money. 

At its basest level news is gossip (or if you can't accept that, news serves the purposes of gossip in our global village).  So it is a mixture of things that are important (that is, things professional journalists think you should know) and things that are purely interesting.  Man bites dog stories are not important, but people enjoy talking about these things so they are reported as news.  And being so reported the stories become news.

[curmu-curmu]

 News?   That's gotta be what's colloquially known as 'clutching at starws!'

[village_person]

What Makes News Headlines

Yes indeed. Consider the storm over the last couple of days when Tony um-err-ah Abbott used the word holocaust. It caused quite a ripple on the radio, TV land, and the print media. Two other leaders have used it to stress a point, Keating the vile and Bob 'plastic bag' Brown. Their use of the word went unnoticed.

Things that make you go mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

[curmu-curmu]

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@village_person wrote:

What Makes News Headlines

Yes indeed. Consider the storm over the last couple of days when Tony um-err-ah Abbott used the word holocaust. It caused quite a ripple on the radio, TV land, and the print media. Two other leaders have used it to stress a point, Keating the vile and Bob 'plastic bag' Brown. Their use of the word went unnoticed.

Things that make you go mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

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Funny how the left can ignore any faux pas their own make, but quickly jump down the thrat of the opposition, should they say something they feel untowards, isn't it?

I still remember the 'Paddington Bear' affair. Mick Young (unintentionally?) smuggled into Australia,  a soft toy for a gift, yet despite Labor hounding Liberals who were caught out some time before, for the same type of act, turned a blind eye to Mr Young's ...indiscretion. An enquiry was instituted, and not surprisingly, found Mr Young not guilty!

He remained a member of Parliament for some time after the event - yet Labor forced Liberals to resign over similar indiscretions.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/latest-news/scandal-for-labor-over-bear-in-there/story-fn3dxiwe...

Yep. Things that make you go hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

[icyfroth]

Mouth to Meow Resuctitation in House Fire

Two cats came within a whisker of losing all nine lives after they were successfully resuscitated by an ambulance crew at a deliberately-lit fire in Port Augusta.

Entire Article Here

Which is actually quite a serious news item.

[icyfroth]

Bachelor contestant farts on first date

A Bachelor New Zealand contestant has had to endure the double humiliation of farting on a first date and having the moment broadcast on national television.

The Bachelor, paleo diet entrepreneur Arthur Green, 26, had just concluded a romantic stroll along the beach with 24-year-old UK fitness instructor Poppy.

As the pair sit down for a beachside picnic at the "pretty magical" location the young Brit audibly breaks wind, before covering her face with her hands in shame.

Entire Article Here 

Ok, that would be excruciatingly embarrassing! 

But to make a News headline?I mean, really?